National Survey Finds Widespread Support for CFPB

Lake Research Partners conducted the telephone survey over July 8-11 on behalf of Americans for Financial Reform and the Center for Responsible Lending, an effort sponsored by the 40,000 member, $583 million Self Help Credit Union, headquartered in Durham, North Carolina,

The survey asked questions only of voters who said they were “probably” or “almost certain" to vote in the 2014 general election for Congress.

When voters were asked if they had a favorable impression of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 51% of overall voters said they had a favorable or somewhat favorable impression of the agency while12% said they had an unfavorable or somewhat unfavorable impression.

Slightly more voters (53%) who identified as Democratic had a favorable impression of the agency and fewer (8%) had an unfavorable impression while 38% of Republican votes surveyed reported having a favorable impression and 21% unfavorable.

But when voters were asked if they had a favorable impression of the “Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created by the 2010 Wall Street reform law,” the numbers shifted somewhat with 43% of voters having a favorable or somewhat favorable impression and 17% having an unfavorable or somewhat unfavorable impression.

By contrast, 50% of Democratic voters had a favorable impression of the agency in the second version of the question while only 10% had an unfavorable impression and 30% of Republican voters had a favorable impression and 29% unfavorable.

In addition, when voters surveyed were asked “[h]ow important is it to regulate financial services and products to make sure they are fair for consumers,” 93% said it was very important or somewhat important and only 6% said it was not at all important or only a little important. These results held generally true across all party affiliations as well, with 96% of Democratic voters calling the idea very or somewhat important and only 3% saying it was not at all or only a little important. Among Republican voters, 89% called the idea very or somewhat important and 10% responding that it was not at all or only a little important.